Let’s say you have a big, beefy athlete of a client on the table, with lots of delicious areas to work on. You dive in. You get the belly of the muscles. You get into the soleus, work their erectors. You proceed to work on their arms and get into the deltoids. Everything’s great, but you have to ask yourself: are you massaging the whole muscle?

I find that, a lot of times, therapists will focus on the belly of the muscle, spending lots and lots of time getting in there: fluffing, buffing, twisting, turning, compressions, and such, but not tracing the muscle all the way to its origins or insertions. It is important to recognize that a muscle has its own intelligence, and when you touch any part of it, the rest of it wants to be touched, as well. If you’re going to use a technique, be sure you use it to work the full length of the muscle, to its tendon and its attachment point. The muscle doesn’t end in the middle. It ends where it ends, and it starts where it starts. Go from end to end, and your clients will love you even more-so.